Climbing the Protest Pyramid: A Situational Analysis of the Resistance of Rickshaw Drivers in Guangzhou, China

• Date: 01 March 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20915184
• Author: Jianhua Xu
• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20915184

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2021, Vol. 65(4) 318 –345

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20915184

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Article

Climbing the Protest

Pyramid: A Situational

Analysis of the Resistance

of Rickshaw Drivers in

Guangzhou, China

Jianhua Xu1

Abstract

Guangzhou police confiscated more than 1,000 “illegal” rickshaws every day since

they were banned from use in the city. However, rickshaws were omnipresent in all

corners of the city, representing a massive army of unemployed or underemployed

workers struggling to eke out a living. Various strategies were used by these

rickshaw operators to protest and resist the mass confiscation by the police. Using

data collected through systematic social observation of police law enforcement and

rickshaw drivers’ routine activities, focus group interviews with the police, in-depth

semistructured interviews with rickshaw drivers, official police detention statistics

of rickshaw drivers, and media content data mining, this article provides a typology

and an analysis of resistance. Based on the severity and intensity of resistance, these

typologies are ranked in what I shall call a “pyramid of resistance.” This article further

examines how situational factors such as degree of frustration, procedural justice,

mobilization capacity, and campaign-style policing affect the escalation of resistance.

Keywords

violence, resistance, situational analysis, China, taxi drivers

Introduction

Individual violence has long been acknowledged as having its roots in social, eco-

nomic, and political inequality (Jacobs & Carmichael, 2002). For the underclass, vio-

lence could be instrumental for self-protection (Anderson, 1999), obtaining economic

1University of Macau, Taipa, China

Corresponding Author:

Jianhua Xu, Department of Sociology, University of Macau, E21, Humanity and Social Sciences Building,

Av. da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China.

Email: jianhuaxu@um.edu.mo

915184IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20915184International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyXu

research-article2020

Xu 319

resources (Messner & Rosenfeld, 2013), or the expression of anger and frustration

(Katz, 1988; Wolfgang & Ferracuti, 1967). Collective violence has also been under-

stood as an alternative way of reaching political goals for politically excluded groups

(Akram, 2014; Tilly, 1978). Social and structural perspectives provide us with impor-

tant background analysis for the production of violence. However, it is increasingly

recognized that situational factors are equally important factors in explaining whether,

when, and how violence occurs (Collins, 2008; Mosselman et al., 2018), although there

is and should be a linkage between macrostructural and situational factors (Katz, 2019).

In this article, using a case study of rickshaw drivers’ confrontations with the police

in Guangzhou, China, I intend to explore what situational factors affect the occurrence

of rickshaw drivers’ violent clashes with the police. More specifically, based on data

collected through multiple methods, this article will locate citizens’ violence against

the police in what I term a “pyramid of resistance.” Individual and collective violence

are at the top of this pyramid, whereas refusing to get off vehicles, verbal accusation,

pleading for mercy, ceasing to resist when caught, fleeing, and adopting preventive

strategies are at the bottom. It will further explore how four situational factors, includ-

ing the degree of frustration, procedural justice, mobilization capacity, and campaign-

style policing affect the rickshaw drivers’ behavior of climbing the resistance pyramid

during their confrontation with the police.

The Mass Confiscation of Auto-Rickshaws (五类车) in

Guangzhou

In 2007, to solve the problem related to motorcycle snatch theft, the city of Guangzhou

started a controversial policy of banning all motorcycles (except for police use) from

being used in the city except for some suburban areas (Xu, 2012). However, banning

motorcycles created many difficulties for two groups of population in particular. One

group consists of the ordinary users who rely on motorcycles for daily transportation.

The other is made up of the motorcycle taxi drivers who use their machines to make a

living (Xu, 2009). It was estimated that there were roughly 700,000 ordinary motorcycle

users and another 100,000 motorcycle taxi drivers in Guangzhou before the ban policy

was implemented (Xu, 2013a). Soon after motorcycles were banned from the city, many

citizens resorted to electric bicycles for their short-distance transportation. Workers who

relied on motorcycle taxis to make a living before 2007 also turned to other types of

vehicles such as bicycles, man-powered tricycles, electric bicycles, or motorized wheel-

chairs to pick up passengers. Some drivers may also modify their man-powered bicycles

and tricycles by installing an engine (either by using gasoline or battery).

However, electric bicycles also became the target of a ban by the Guangzhou gov-

ernment for alleged problems such as violating traffic regulations, unsafety, operating

an illegal business, evading responsibility for traffic accidents, as well as violent resis-

tance to law enforcement. In 2009, to create an “orderly” and “clean” city to welcome

the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, for the first time in Guangzhou’s history, the local